Privacy, Consent, and Chaperone in Healthcare Practice

About this course

This course gives healthcare professionals the knowledge and skills to respect patient privacy, obtain valid consent and use chaperones well. It covers the regulatory, ethical and practical sides of these practices so that patient dignity and trust are upheld in every interaction.

Concerns about intimate examinations, inadequate explanation and lack of consent are among the most serious matters regulators deal with, because they involve the patient's body and sense of safety. Many complaints arise not from deliberate misconduct but from examinations that were clinically justified yet poorly explained, carried out without a clear offer of a chaperone, or not properly recorded. Through practical scenarios and regulatory guidance, this course shows how to prevent these situations, and it supports anyone facing an investigation or fitness to practise process with a regulator such as the GMC, NMC or HCPC.

CPD Value and How to Record It:

This course is designed to provide approximately 2 hours of learning, including reading, the reflection points, the reflective account and the assessment. In the UK, CPD is generally recorded as the time actually spent learning, so you should record the time you genuinely spend, which may be more or less than the estimate.

How the course fits your revalidation or CPD requirements depends on your regulator. For example, the NMC asks nurses, midwives and nursing associates to record 35 hours of CPD over three years, of which at least 20 must be participatory; self-directed online learning such as this course usually counts as individual learning unless you complete it with others. The GMC expects doctors to reflect on CPD for appraisal and revalidation rather than setting a fixed number of hours. The HCPC, GDC, GPhC, GOC, GOsC and GCC each set their own CPD requirements, so check the current rules that apply to you. Always keep your certificate together with your written reflection.

What you will learn

• Understand the regulatory and ethical guidance on patient privacy, consent and chaperone use.
• Learn how to obtain informed consent effectively, so patients understand their choices and rights.
• Recognise the role of chaperones in maintaining professional boundaries and supporting comfort.
• Apply regulatory guidance to real scenarios to manage privacy and consent challenges.
• Reflect on your own practice to find areas to improve in privacy, consent and chaperone use.

Who this course is for

Doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, pharmacists, allied health professionals, optometrists, osteopaths, chiropractors and other UK registrants, including those facing an investigation about consent, privacy or intimate examinations.

Course content

10 sections · 2 CPD hours · 15 MCQs

Course facts

CPD value

Approximately 2 CPD hours (estimated learning time, including reflection and assessment)

Format

Self-paced reading with practice scenarios, reflection points and a written reflective account

Standards covered

GMC Decision making and consent and Intimate examinations and chaperones; NMC, GDC, GPhC, HCPC, GOC, GOsC and GCC standards; Mental Capacity Act 2005 and UK equivalents; Human Rights Act 1998; Equality Act 2010; consent of children and young people

Assessment

15 scenario-based multiple-choice questions; pass mark 12 out of 15 (80%)

Questions about this course